Desire

Desire is the story of an Edwardian New Woman who finds fulfilment in work and love. The heroine, Desire Quebell, can ignore society’s rules when she has a high social position, but when she is cast on her own resources, society won’t allow her to make her own living, until Peter Grimstone, the novelist and her closest friend, asks her to take a job as book-keeper in his family’s Staffordshire pottery firm. His scheming brother tries to disrupt their business success, and challenge Desire’s place in the firm. First published in 1908, Una L Silberrad’s novel of professional integrity and feminist aspirations for the right to work was praised by contemporary reviewers because ‘it satisfies the intelligence at the same time as it appeals to the emotions’. Cornelia Wächter’s introduction shows how Silberrad’s novel challenged the gender stereotypes of the day. Her ideals for masculinity conflicted with contemporary expectations of how men should behave.